The present invention relates to dental materials for the control of caries and paradentitis. More specifically, the present invention relates to dental materials comprising antibacterial active agents and dental carrier materials for prophylactic and therapeutic control of caries and paradentitis, and in particular, dental neck caries.
Despite research over many decades and numerous attempts to achieve prophylactic and therapeutic treatment of caries and paradentitis, they remain an unmastered problem.
Medical treatment has hitherto been largely based on fluorides, c.f. Dr. Hans Joachim Schmidt, Zahnhalskariesprophylaxe durch Fluoride, Dr. Alfred Huthig Verlag, Heidelberg, 2d ed. 1967. It is only appropriate, however, to administer fluoride tablets up to the end of tooth formation, i.e., up to about 12 years of age. After this time, it is mainly a question of the local application of active substances for the prophylactic and therapeutic treatment of caries and paradentitis.
Fluorides and other active substances and in particular antimicrobial active substances have hitherto been largely incorporated into mouth and tooth treatment products and have been used during daily oral hygiene. The action period of these various treatment products is, however, relatively short in duration and provide only brief treatment since the active substances are rapidly diluted and rinsed out from salivation and absorption by food.
To obviate these disadvantages, it has been proposed that for the therapeutic treatment of paradentitis, antimicrobial active substances such as chlorhexidine embedded in a film as a system with delayed active substance delivery be introduced into the parodontium, c.f. Coventry, J. and Newman, H. N., J. Clin. peridontol., 9, pp. 129-133 (1982) and Friedman, M. and Golomb, G., J. Clin. Peridontol., 17, pp. 323-328 (1982). A further chlorhexidine-containing system with delayed active substance delivery for use in the dental area was described by T. E. Balanyk and H. J. Sandham in J. Dent. Res., 64, pp. 1356-1360 (1985). It consists of a solution of a chlorhexidine salt in benzoin resin, which forms a firm film on drying from which the active substances is delivered in a delayed manner. The described in vitro test reveal that after 14 days only 3 to 10 mg. of chlorhexidine had been supplied by the system, and the remaining active substance was not available. Table 1 shows that the antiseptics thymol and iodine are the least effective.